


Exercise in Futility

by Mnemosyne_Elegy



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Anniversary shenanigans, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Rebuilding estranged friendships, friendship/family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-25
Updated: 2018-11-25
Packaged: 2019-08-29 02:55:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,337
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16735749
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mnemosyne_Elegy/pseuds/Mnemosyne_Elegy
Summary: It's probably a bad idea to seek Lyon out today, but Gray can't help but try. Sadly, it seems like Lyon doesn't want to be found.





	Exercise in Futility

**Author's Note:**

> I've written several stories where Lyon goes looking for Gray on Ur's death anniversary, so I thought why not try it once in the other direction? X)

Gray had had some truly terrible ideas in his time, but this one was right up there at the top of the list. Probably. It was hard to say for sure because he really had no idea what was going to come of it yet, but he had a bad feeling about it. This was probably a really stupid thing to do.

He shifted uneasily from foot to foot, eyeing the Lamia Scale guild hall as warily as if it might end up being hell on earth if he dared walk inside. Which it might be, depending on what he found there. He had been loitering out here for maybe ten minutes now, too nervous to go inside but somehow unable to make himself leave without at least trying.

This mother of all bad ideas had snuck up on him last week, blindsiding him out of nowhere and sinking its teeth into him with enough tenacity that he couldn't shake it off no matter how hard he tried. With Ur's death anniversary coming up, it wasn't a huge surprise that he had been thinking of her, and that Lyon might have surfaced in his thoughts once or twice. At one point he had casually thought that maybe he actually kind of wished that he could see Lyon again, and that had been the beginning of the end.

To start with, Gray wasn't sure if Lyon would actually be glad to see him at the best of times, much less today of all days. Yes, when they'd gone to fight Oración Seis he had seemed to slip back into the easy rivalry they had once shared, as if everything with Ur and Deliora and Galuna had never happened—as if he didn't still hate Gray. Still, Gray wasn't entirely confident that it hadn't just been some kind of show. He had no idea what purpose that would serve or what Lyon would get out of it, but he wasn't sure of much of anything where Lyon was concerned anymore. But he  _was_  pretty confident that the older mage still had plenty of reasons to hate him, whether he said so or not.

And if that hate was still lingering around somewhere, it was most likely to surface today. But that wasn't even the main reason that Gray was worried about this.

He swallowed hard and looked back down the street longingly. He could just go now, and no one need ever know that he had come at all. Really, he should probably get out of here before Lyon spotted him and everything went to hell.

The real problem with being here now was that Gray would just make things worse. He could deal with anger and resentment and even hate, if he had to, but he couldn't stand the thought of worsening Lyon's grief. His mere presence would drag up all sorts of bad memories today, because he was the one who had…

Gray cut off that line of thought and shook his head firmly. No point going there. If he  _did_ see Lyon, then he couldn't afford to get caught up in thoughts like that. This wasn't about him and his grief and guilt.

He let out his breath in a sigh. What the hell had he been thinking, coming here? Had he really thought that it might help him make up for what he'd done, lessen the guilt a little? Or that he could do something worthwhile to help? What a silly idea. He would only make things worse, and he didn't want that. Hadn't he already done enough, hurt Lyon enough? Shit, he had known this would be a bad idea.

Lyon didn't need him. He'd have his own friends to lean on if he needed support. And even if he was alone, that would still probably be preferable to Gray's company.

It had been a pointless endeavor coming here, an exercise in futility. Nothing Gray could do at this point would fix what was broken, and if he was just going to break things further then it would be better if he wasn't here at all.

Before he could force himself to turn around and walk away, the door to the guild burst open and a mage stepped out into the street. Gray didn't know her so he might have still been able to make his escape, but she quickly noticed his intense scrutiny of the guild hall and raised an eyebrow.

"Can I help you with something?" she asked pleasantly.

Here was Gray's chance to say that he was just walking past and leave.

"I'm looking for Lyon," he said instead.

He immediately wanted to smack himself in the face. What the hell was that? Him and his big mouth.

"Lyon?" the Lamia Scale mage asked, eyeing him curiously. "I haven't seen him today."

"Oh, that's fine," Gray said hurriedly, inching backwards in a not-so-subtle attempt to escape. "I'll just drop by another time, then."

"Wait a second, let me see if Sherry has seen him."

"Um, don't worry about it, I–"

Ignoring him, the woman turned and opened the door again. "Sherry!" she called into the building. "Have you seen Lyon? Someone's out here looking for him."

There was a muffled voice from inside, but Gray was too busy trying to surreptitiously sneak down the street to really pay much attention. Unfortunately, he'd only made it a few feet before Sherry stuck her head out the door and spotted him. Recognition immediately sparked in her eyes, and he knew he was busted.

"Oh, hi! It's been a long time," she gushed.

The other Lamia Scale mage looked between Gray and Sherry for a moment, before shrugging and walking away. "Good luck."

Yeah, Gray would need all the luck he could get now.

"Hi, Sherry," he said, smiling wanly.

"You're looking for Lyon-sama? He hasn't come to the guild today, but I can help you find him!"

"Oh no, that's okay," Gray said quickly, making a dismissive gesture. "I can just come back later."

Come to think of it, maybe he shouldn't be surprised that Lyon wasn't here. Gray didn't usually go to his guild on the anniversary either.

"But I'm sure he'd be glad to see you," Sherry said cheerfully, latching onto Gray's arm and dragging him down the street despite his protests. "It's been a while, hasn't it? Oración Seis? Did I ever apologize for attacking you? Sorry about that."

"Um, it's fine," Gray said. Had she always been this talkative? "It's not like you really had a choice. We can blame Nirvana for that."

"I suppose so. But in any case, I can make it up to you by helping you find Lyon-sama so that you can declare your love!"

Gray stumbled over his own two feet, and almost went down and dragged Sherry with him. Straightening himself back up again, he tried to speak but was interrupted by a sudden fit of coughing and spluttering.

"Excuse me?" he demanded, finally managing to pull himself together, aside from the tell-tale burning splashed across his cheeks to mark his embarrassment.

Sherry paused and blinked at him uncertainly. "Is that not what you're here for?"

"Of course not! You're welcome to him. Geez."

There was a short silence, but then the confusion cleared from her face. "Silly," she said, turning to start back down the street again, "there are different kinds of love."

Gray followed after her, keeping his mouth clamped shut. Honestly, what had she expected him to assume when she was always going on and on about love? Although…fine, he got her point. Even if he'd never admit to it.

He was more than happy to keep quiet and half listen to Sherry's rambling about 'love' and 'Lyon-sama' as she led him through the city. Mainly, he needed to find a way to get out of this mess he had created for himself. He had a terrible feeling that he was about to really screw something up, and he didn't share Sherry's confidence that Lyon would be pleased to see him.

"Here is Lyon-sama's apartment," Sherry announced suddenly, dragging him up to a nondescript building.

Gray winced. "If he didn't come to the guild, then maybe he just doesn't really want to be bothered today," he reasoned, shying back.

As a matter of fact, he was pretty confident of it. He wouldn't necessarily be thrilled by people bothering him today either, especially not when he really just wanted to be alone.

"Maybe, but he doesn't know that you're here," Sherry said as she knocked loudly on the door. "I'm sure he'd make an exception for you."

"Yeah," Gray muttered, scuffing his foot along the ground glumly. "Exception."

He wondered if there was still time to make his escape.

A frown stole over Sherry's face as she banged on the door a couple more times and then crossed her arms. "He's not answering."

"Maybe he's not here." Or maybe he just didn't want to deal with people today. "I'll just come back later."

Sherry ignored him and moved around to the side of the building to peer in the window. Her frown deepened as she tapped on the glass.

"Seriously, I'll just–" Gray jumped about a foot in the air as the window suddenly shattered, sending Sherry reeling back. "Oh my God, are you okay?"

She turned to look at him, her mouth opening and closing soundlessly for a moment before she shrugged. "Well, I wasn't expecting that. Maybe I shouldn't have pounded on it so hard."

Gray shook his head. Well, he'd seen far stranger things in his time.

"At least we can check and see if he's here now," Sherry said, brightening up as she stuck her head through the new hole. "I'll just duck inside and–"

"Good grief, don't do that!" Gray yelped, tugging her backwards before she actually managed to wriggle her way through. "Look how much broken glass is everywhere. You're going to cut yourself."

"Oh. I can just knock out the pieces still hanging onto the frame, and then I should be fine."

"If he was here, don't you think he would have come to see what broke his window? It was pretty loud."

Sherry sighed. "I guess… But we could always double-check…"

"You sure you're not a Fairy Tail mage at heart?" Gray muttered, rolling his eyes. Next time Lucy complained about him or Natsu climbing through her windows, he was going to tell her about this. At least they didn't  _break_ her windows. "Look, either he's not here or he really, really doesn't want to see us. I can just stop by another day. Thanks for your help, though."

He felt a little bad about messing up Lyon's place, so he went ahead and iced over the missing window as a temporary measure until it could be fixed. He hesitated a moment longer, then shrugged and added a second layer. Better safe than sorry.

"Oh, I know!" Sherry said, suddenly cheering up again. "Maybe he's wandering around town somewhere. I know all his favorite places. Come on, let's see if we can find him."

Despite Gray's best efforts to convince her to just leave it be, she seemed to have taken this as a personal mission. She dragged him all around the city, searching for Lyon in all his usual haunts. By the end of it, Gray knew all of Lyon's favorite places to eat and shop and hang out, and had a good few stories to go along with them, since Sherry was happy enough to share all sorts of funny and embarrassing tales. Gray now had a lot of great ammunition for teasing his missing…friend? Were they really friends now? He wasn't entirely sure. And because he wasn't sure, most of that convenient ammunition would probably never be fired. Definitely not today, anyway.

Not that he could do it today even if he wanted to, because Lyon was nowhere to be found. Even Sherry was starting to get discouraged as she began running out of places to look. Gray was half relieved and half disappointed, but not at all surprised. If Lyon didn't want to be found, then he probably wouldn't be found.

Gray was inclined to call it a day because they obviously weren't going to find their target, but since it wasn't like he had anything better to do today besides mope, he didn't complain too much when Sherry persisted in the search long after it was reasonable to do so. But he finally decided to put his foot down when she declared that they could do a second round of the city and stop by every single place again.

"No, we aren't likely to find him," Gray said with a sigh. "No point wasting the entire day on a wild goose chase. Thank you for helping me look, though."

"I guess," Sherry mumbled, deflating a little. "Well, when he shows up again, I'll tell him that you stopped by."

Gray opened his mouth to tell her not to do that, but he couldn't come up with a reasonable excuse. Awesome. Well, Lyon would definitely find out about this ill-fated scheme, then.

Gray just sighed again and watched as Sherry reluctantly waved goodbye and disappeared into the crowd. Now what was he supposed to do? He didn't particularly feel like going back to Magnolia yet—he certainly wouldn't be going to the guild today, and moping around in his apartment didn't seem appealing—so he decided to just continue wandering the city for now. Not because he was hoping to randomly run into Lyon or anything silly like that. Obviously.

Still, he ended up doing exactly what Sherry had suggested. Not only did he 'just happen' to wander past Lyon's apartment once or twice—or seven times, but who was counting?—but he revisited all the places Sherry had shown him more than once, and even explored the rest of the city too. It was really more of an aimless drifting than a purposeful search, and it wasn't necessarily pleasant. Now that Sherry was gone and he had nothing to distract himself with, Gray's thoughts turned down dark paths again.

He didn't realize it until night had fallen and he'd reluctantly boarded a train for home, but those thoughts had centered more around Lyon than Ur. Obviously the two were intertwined, but he'd been so preoccupied with this stupid idea of his, and with how stupid it was, that he'd ended up thinking about Lyon far more than he usually did. That wasn't necessarily a good thing. As if he didn't already have enough to feel bad about just for Ur.

By the time he finally reached Magnolia, night had long since fallen. He was exhausted after fruitlessly searching Margaret Town all day, morose because he'd managed to do some moping after all, and ready to go to bed and pretend that this day had never happened.

When he trudged up to his apartment and made to unlock it, he paused and frowned as he realized that the door was already unlocked. He was pretty sure that he had locked it when he had left. Then he sighed. The only explanation he could come up with was that his nosy guildmates had come by to look for him when he hadn't come to the guild, and hadn't bothered locking up when they left. Maybe they were finally learning how to use doors like normal people.

Damn, he really should have at least said that he was taking a job or something. That was an easy excuse that would attract far less suspicion than just failing to show up. It was his normal modus operandi, and if he hadn't been so distracted this morning then he probably would have done it. Oh well, too late now. He'd just have to come up with a plausible explanation for tomorrow.

Sighing heavily, he pushed his way into his apartment. For the love of… The fools had even left the lights on. Clicking his tongue in annoyance, he started for the kitchen, intending to eat whatever took the absolute least time to prepare before he went straight to bed.

He only made it a few steps before stopping short.

"L-Lyon?" he stammered, eyes widening as he spotted the very person he had spent all day looking for sitting on his couch. "What…? What are you doing here?"

Lyon dropped whatever he had been reading onto the coffee table and looked over at Gray with an unreadable expression. "Ah, there you are. About time you finally showed up."

"I… You…  _What_?"

Maybe this was just a product of Gray's tired mind. After all, he'd been preoccupied with Lyon the entire day, so maybe it shouldn't be a surprise if his mind started playing tricks like this now. Except that the other mage was looking awfully solid and real.

But that was impossible, because Lyon wouldn't have any reason to want to come here.

"Your friends let me in," Lyon said, shrugging. "Did you know that they climb through  _windows_? Honestly, why? Is the door not good enough?"

Gray just gaped at him soundlessly, certain that his eyes were as wide as saucers. The silence seemed to unnerve Lyon and he shifted uncomfortably, although he still seemed perfectly put-together in every other way.

"They basically interrogated me, you know," he said conversationally. His lips tightened for a brief second. "I don't think they entirely trust me yet. But eventually I convinced them to help me look for you."

Gray let out a strangled laugh. "You've been here this whole time?" he asked in disbelief.

Lyon eyed him for a moment, perhaps sensing an undercurrent to his tone, but then shrugged. "Not the whole time. We stopped by here first, but you weren't here, obviously. We looked for you around the city for a while too, but then I decided to just wait here. I figured you'd have to come back eventually."

"Why?" Gray asked, forcing the word out with some difficulty.

"Because you live here? It seemed reasonable to assume–"

"No," he interrupted, an uncomfortable feeling tightening in his chest. "Why are you here?"

Lyon stared at him silently, something almost like disappointment or hurt flickering in his eyes before he looked away. His shoulders slumped a little, and he suddenly looked tired and older.

"I can leave, if you want."

"If I…?" Gray shook his head and leaned back against the wall, only half realizing that his body was trembling slightly with tension. "I just want to know why you're here."

"It's an important day to both of us, isn't it?" Lyon asked with a sigh. "I thought maybe we could deal with it together. But if you'd rather I leave, I can do that too."

"Why…? Why do you think I want you to leave?"

Lyon finally looked over again, his expression skeptical and disbelieving. "Is that a real question?"

Gray stared back at him blankly. He could come up with an entire host of reasons for why Lyon might want to leave, but he was drawing a blank as to why he might think that Gray would want him gone. Something of his total lack of understanding must have shown on his face, because Lyon's eyebrows shot upwards.

"Really?" the older mage asked incredulously. "After how I treated you as a kid after Ur… And everything with Galuna… Honestly, none of this is ringing a bell?"

"You're still worried about that?" Gray shook his head uncomprehendingly. Okay, so that stuff had sucked and it had hurt a lot, but did Lyon really think he was holding grudges?

Lyon scowled and crossed his arms over his chest. "Am I missing something here? Because I'd think that stuff would be a pretty big deal. Is it really that surprising that I wasn't sure you'd be happy to see me?"

"Um, yeah? Kind of? I didn't realize it was still an issue."

"I don't understand you." Lyon slumped back against the couch and rubbed at his face wearily. "I hated you for a decade, and you just ignore everything I've ever done to you. That can't possibly be normal."

Gray bit the inside of his cheek and looked away. Maybe the reason he didn't see that stuff as a big issue was because he realized that he himself had done far worse. He could be annoyed about the whole resurrecting Deliora thing because it had been stupid and reckless, but aside from that… Well, it's not like anything Lyon had ever said to him wasn't something that Gray had thought first. It hurt, but it was justified. It was hard to stay mad at someone when everything they said made sense and you deserved it all. Gray might be hurt, but he wasn't mad.

"Anything that needed to be forgiven, I forgave a long time ago," he said finally, noncommittally. Then he laughed tiredly, the barest hint of bitterness creeping into the sound. "We think too much alike for our own good."

Because everything Lyon was saying sounded eerily familiar, didn't it? He had basically done the exact same things that Gray had done, was admitting to the same insecurities that Gray had. It was too bad. It would be better if he thought less like Gray.

"Huh?" Lyon frowned, his brows knitting together. "What do you mean?"

"I should warn you, Sherry broke one of your windows trying to figure out if you were in your apartment. I iced it over, but you should look into getting it replaced," Gray said. Lyon blinked at him uncomprehendingly for a few seconds, before his eyes widened. He opened his mouth, but Gray turned away and headed into the kitchen. "I'm too tired to cook anything after looking for you all day. Just come make a sandwich or something."

"You…were looking for…me?"

Well, it looked like Gray had finally managed to rattle Lyon, if nothing else. He sighed and began digging through his fridge.

"Yeah," he said neutrally, busying himself with sandwich assembly so that he didn't have to look at his guest. "Do you prefer turkey or ham?"

"Turkey or…? I don't care about the damn sandwich," Lyon said, the eye roll evident in his voice. "I didn't come here for food. Why do you think I care about food?"

"Natsu always comes for food. He'll eat everything, if I'm not careful to keep an eye on him."

"Well, I'm not your stupid dragon slayer and– Stop trying to distract me!"

Gray just shrugged. Turkey it was.

"I guess it's my turn to ask you why, then, isn't it?" Lyon said after a moment.

"Same reason you came looking for me, I guess," Gray replied noncommittally.

"Maybe so, but I'd rather hear it from you."

Gray sighed. "Because I wanted…I wanted… Oh, nothing. It doesn't matter."

He shoved a sandwich at Lyon's chest and then started making another, even though he seemed to have mostly lost his appetite by now. There was a heavy moment of silence, before a soft clinking sound signaled that Lyon had returned the plate to the countertop.

"Why do you think it doesn't matter?"

"Because… I don't know. It's stupid."

"What you want matters, Gray," Lyon said softly. He let out a chuckle that sounded something like a sigh. "Even if it's stupid."

Gray stilled, staring down at his half-made dinner sightlessly. He wasn't certain if his intentions really  _did_ matter. Did they really change anything? He wasn't sure.

"I just wanted to… Oh, I don't know. I wanted to try making up for… Or to try fixing things or make things better somehow." He shook his head at how silly that sounded. As if trying to make up for everything now could magically fix things. "I just…didn't want to make things worse."

Lyon sighed heavily. "You're not making things worse. And no, I don't think that's stupid."

"I thought it would," Gray said shortly. "Make things worse. But I went anyway, because I wanted…"

He grimaced and shook his head. That made him seem a lot more selfish. Even when he'd been so worried about making things worse for Lyon, he hadn't abandoned the scheme. He could blame Sherry for being pushy, but the truth was that he could have left any time he wanted. And even once Sherry had left, he had still stayed and poked around looking for Lyon, even if he hadn't admitted to himself that was what he was doing.

Saying that he wanted to make things better seemed to contradict what had actually happened, given that he'd thought he would ruin everything but went anyway. How selfish was that?

"What did you want, Gray?" Lyon asked gently.

Gray didn't respond immediately. He didn't honestly know how to answer that question, and when he finally opened his mouth, he wasn't entirely sure what would come out.

"You," he said. "I wanted you."

Then he flushed, realizing how weird and stupid that sounded. Damn, his brain and mouth were getting him into all kinds of trouble today. He desperately searched for a way to qualify that statement and make it sound less awkward, but he was drawing a blank.

The thing was…it was true, wasn't it? He had wanted to see Lyon, on some level was probably longing for the relationship they had once shared, and he had let that overshadow his better judgement. He went looking for Lyon despite everything because he had just wanted to be with his one-time brother, regardless of the consequences, even though he wasn't sure Lyon would want him around at all.

Gray wasn't sure if that was more awkward or selfish.

"I didn't mean– I just…" He trailed off and dug the heels of his palms into his eyes wearily. He was such a selfish fool.

The silence dragged on for a few more interminably long seconds, before Lyon sighed quietly. Gray started in surprise and stiffened when he was suddenly drawn into a hug. The gesture was a little uncertain and definitely awkward, but after a moment Lyon tightened his grip steadfastly. Gray hesitated a bit longer, but then buried his face in the older mage's chest and removed his hands from his eyes to fist them in Lyon's shirt.

"If I didn't want you, I wouldn't have spent half my day sitting here waiting for you," Lyon said finally.

Gray swallowed past the lump in his throat and tried to ignore the unshed tears burning in his eyes. He was  _not_ going to cry over something like this. And especially not now, because he didn't want this to be about him and his issues. It was–

Actually, he realized, maybe it  _was_ partly about him and his issues. Just like it was partly about Lyon and  _his_ issues. And oddly enough, they both seemed to have similar issues and insecurities. They shared the same grief, had made similar mistakes, and were uncertain of their relationship but obviously wanted to try fixing it up. All of those things that had been plaguing Gray for the past decade… He hadn't realized that Lyon had ended up struggling with some of them too. It was actually a little disconcerting, how similar they were in this moment.

Maybe they hadn't really come together today just because of their common connection to Ur. Maybe it was, at least in part, that they needed each other. Perhaps they had something they could give each other, some forgiveness or acceptance or understanding.

Gray released his death grip on the shirt to slide his arms around Lyon as well.

"You know," Lyon murmured, "I really should have told you a long time ago that–"

"You don't have to," Gray interrupted. "Is it bad if I don't want to talk about her or how she…? I know it's her day, but I…I already think about it all the time and you're here now and… I don't know."

Lyon stayed quiet for a moment. "No, I don't think it's bad. And I suppose you were always better at accepting things that weren't spelled out in words, anyway."

Gray could play coy, but decided not to bother. He knew what his friend meant. He had never been very good at handling serious, emotional things head-on. The indirect approach had always worked better, and that usually meant not talking about things that should probably be talked about.

He didn't need Lyon to tell him that Ur's death wasn't his fault, or that he was forgiven and loved, or that they could still be friends or maybe even brothers. What had already been said tonight was already pushing him way out of his comfort zone. Maybe it was good that some of those things had been said—Gray would be lying if he said that they hadn't really affected him—but now that he and Lyon were on the same page, they didn't need all that anymore.

"Why don't we talk about ourselves instead?" Lyon suggested.

Gray wriggled out of his grasp and stepped back, eyeing him uncertainly. "Ourselves?"

"Why not? Like you said, we're both here now. We might as well make the most of it." Lyon shrugged. "We missed out on a big part of each other's lives, and now seems like as good a time as any to catch up. I think she'd like that, knowing that we were using this opportunity to get closer instead of just mourn."

"Okay?"

It wasn't that Gray was wholly opposed to the idea—he'd just been thinking about how this whole thing had basically turned into being about him and Lyon this year instead of just involving him being a guilt-ridden, grief-stricken mess over Ur, hadn't he?—but he wasn't sure exactly how Lyon wanted to go about this.

"Well, we've got at least a missing decade to cover," Lyon said with a shrug. "You can go first. Tell me about it. And make sure you include some embarrassing stories so that I can tease you later."

Gray stared at him a moment longer, but then a sly smirk spread across his face. "Embarrassing stories? Like that time you got drunk on your birthday, wandered to the shop next door, and got mad when the shopkeeper wouldn't give you more beer, so you turned the poor flower shop into an ice-animal zoo before passing out on top of a rosebush? I bet those thorns must've hurt the next morning."

Lyon's eyes grew impossibly wide as he gaped at Gray. "Wha–? How do you know about that?"

"Oh, Sherry told me  _all sorts_ of interesting stories while we were wandering the city looking for you."

"She didn't."

"Oh yes she did," Gray said, chuckling. "There were some good ones in there, too."

Lyon rubbed at his eyes, not quite hiding his flush. "Awesome. Now you definitely need to tell me some good stories so that we're on an even playing field."

"Yeah right." Gray snorted and shook his head. "I don't think so."

"Well, at least tell me something about your life from then."

Lyon had dropped his hands, and his embarrassment faded as he studied Gray with an almost hungry expression. It puzzled Gray for a moment, before he realized that his friend really  _did_ want to know about everything he had missed in the decade they had been apart. And Gray…Gray also wanted to know what he had missed in Lyon's life. They really did have a lot of catching up to do.

Sighing, Gray pushed his tiredness aside and turned away to resume making his sandwich. He had the feeling that this was going to be a long night, and he couldn't honestly say that he minded.

"Well, I did what she suggested and went west. I had a whole lot of crazy adventures on the way, but the craziest one of them all started when I joined Fairy Tail…"

**Author's Note:**

> And it was also more tooth-rottingly sweet than I remembered. Oops?


End file.
